The Cabin
by Cormak3032
Summary: Two people arrive at the same cabin in the mountains. Stuck there during a winter storm, they realize they mean something to the other. HG/SS


The Cabin

written by Cormak December 2009

AN: This story was written during the blizzard we received here in New England along the coastline. With the wind howling outside and the snow falling steadily, ideas came to me and I began to write this story. It is just an excuse to get my favorite non canon couple together. It is complete in two chapters.

Please pardon any errors as this work has been edited and corrected by myself and not a beta.

The snow was still falling fast and furiously. Swirling, then blowing and hiding the view of the woods surrounding the cabin as the wind whipped violently. It was getting darker now and Severus Snape was still not back. Hermione Granger was more than concerned. She had been biting her nails down to nothing and pacing back and forth for the last 45 minutes.

There had to be at least 8 inches of snow on the ground and it continued to fall. She had listened to the Muggle radio for a while until the batteries had died in the blasted contraption. They were predicting 30 inches of snow in the mountains where they were residing. They should have Apparated hours ago before it got too treacherous.

It was a complete surprise when they both arrived at the same cabin within a half an hour of each other. It had to be more than coincidence. The cabin was in the mountains of rural Maine in America. They argued saying they had been invited and had the right to be there. Eventually they decided they would both stay the night and go home in the morning. They were too exhausted from the journey to leave just yet. Severus offered to find firewood a few hours after the snow started falling. It was obvious by his waspish tone he needed to have some time alone so, Hermione did not argue when he went.

At 29 years old, Hermione was already considered by many to be an old maid. Since she and Ron decided to split amicably several years ago, she had spent almost all her time on projects at the Ministry for the better of those less fortunate or taken advantage of. When her work was repeatedly not received well, she eventually was forced to give it up, and chose to dive headfirst into research. It didn't matter the subject; she wanted a hand in it. She had dated one other man and the entire relationship had been a fiasco. He had never cared for her, only his own boost in popularity amongst his friends and peers by dating a war hero.

Hermione had been seeing more and more of Severus Snape. After an extended recovery from the war that was a miracle in and of itself, he disappeared for a while and then re-appeared doing Potions research. He worked himself hard to try and shove the past away. He had sold his house in Spinner's End and had bought a house in a quiet Welsh village. His research brought little money until Harry intervened; though Severus did not know this. While Severus and Harry would never be friends they had several long talks at Harry's insistence that seemed to ease some of the dislike between the two. Severus had begun to attend family parties that the Potters held; though many believed it was at Minerva McGonagall's urging. Whatever the reason, he silently attended. Often sitting in a dark corner of the room, watching everyone, and saying very little.

Hermione made her way back to the window. A huddled black blob suddenly appeared through the thick wall of snow. Hermione felt relief flood her only to find it short lived. Severus looked to be limping and he held his arm at an odd angle. She quickly snatched her coat from the hanger and threw the door open, ignoring the cold and snow that tried to force her back inside. She went out with no hat or gloves, but she was too concerned about Snape to even notice the cold attacking her.

She offered her shoulder, which he refused to take until he stumbled badly, nearly falling into the snow. They made the slow journey to the cabin. She could feel him trembling against her from the cold. His clothes felt stiff and frozen.

Once inside she tossed her coat aside and helped him into one of the chairs by the fire that she had kept roaring.

"Sweet Merlin, Snape, what the hell happened?"

He gripped his head. This entire situation was one big nightmare.

She watched the way he held his arm and knew he was in worse shape than he was letting on.

"You've dislocated your shoulder."

"Are you a Healer now?" he snapped and then regretted it as his head began to pound even more than it already did. His shoulder and arm hurt so badly he feared he might pass out in front of her.

She ignored the comment and looked him over. "Where else?"

"My left knee and my head."

He watched through squinted eyes as she moved her wand over him in a crude attempt to discover exactly how bad he was hurt.

He was shivering uncontrollably now. His clothes began to drip as the frozen snow melted in the warmth of the cabin. The pain was causing him to go into mild shock. Hermione cast a quick warming spell and then a drying spell.

"What happened? You just went out for a little extra firewood and a walk and you came back with no wood and injured."

"A tree attacked me when I went to take its fallen wood," he bit out.

Hermione frowned. "You don't have to be sarcastic with me. Pardon me for being worried."

She poked his shoulder and he cried out. "Damn it, Hermione!"

She was too upset by the amount of pain he was in to notice he had called her by her first name. She wondered why he had not tried to set his shoulder or at least use magic to dull the pain.

"Where is your wand?"

"My wand is...gone," he said softly.

"What do you mean by gone? You had it when you left."

"And I returned without it."

She sat on the footstool, looking up at him and he sighed. This arguing was not doing the least bit of good. "Please get me a headache potion from my satchel. Top left pocket."

"No potions until I learn why your head hurts."

He sighed deeply, the action causing additional pain. "It hurts because it was hit forcefully against a hard object, you daft woman!"

It was Hermione's turn to sigh. "We aren't going to get anywhere if we snap at each other. I want to help you."

"Then get the potion...please," he added.

She went to his bag, retrieved the glass vile from it and removed the stopper. He downed half the vile in one gulp and handed it back to her. His head was still hurting, but at least his vision was not so blurry. Unfortunately the result of less pain in his head focused his attention on how badly his shoulder hurt. It felt as if he had been dragged by a Hippogriff for miles over rough terrain.

"I need to set your shoulder. It will be very painful. Maybe you can tell me what happened to take your mind off the pain. "

"Granger, you are not a healer. I will not-"

"My father fell down the stairs and dislocated his shoulder years ago. My mother studied nursing before she became a dentist. If she hadn't decided to change her career she never would have met my father. But while she left school for nursing she did and still does retain what she learned and she has passed it on to me."

"Have you ever done it?"

"No."

He swallowed hard.

"Look, I'm the best chance you have. We are out in the middle of nowhere and it's snowing far too hard to Apparate from here. Lie down on the couch and tell me what happened."

Snape grudgingly sat on the couch and then lay back, staring at the flicking patterns of firelight on the ceiling. Could he trust her not to harm him further?

He felt her bend his arm at a 90-degree angle and he had to bite his tongue to keep from crying out. Every movement caused excruciating pain.

"I...there was a hole that was covered by the snow. I fell hard, twisting my knee and slamming my shoulder and head on a fallen log. My wand went flying and I have been too dizzy to use "Accio". Feel free to laugh now."

She frowned at the mental image of him falling and hurting himself. He always seemed so graceful. No doubt admitting he'd fallen had hurt his pride. This wasn't a time to pick on him.

She shook her head. "I'm not going to laugh at you. I'm sorry that you hurt yourself and that you lost your wand. After I do this, I think it would be best if you took a hot shower and changed into some other clothes."

Before he could comment further she slowly, but steadily rotated his arm and shoulder outward. Holding on to his wrist she pushed slowly.

"This is all my fault..."

"Your fault?" he asked, the new topic distracting him from what she was doing to his arm.

"Harry asked me what it would take to get me away from my work. I told him nothing but he was rather persistent. He wanted to know what the perfect holiday would be. I foolishly told him a few days away with intelligent company. Someone I could read with, discuss projects with. Someone who didn't treat me as if I was either a leper or a celebrity" She lowered his arm just past 90 degrees to his chest and attempted to coax his shoulder back into his shoulder joint.

Severus cried out and tried to move away. This hurt far more than he imagined.

"I have to do this. Don't make me put you in a body bind."

He bit his lip hard, making it bleed and held still as she did the same motions again and again until finally when he was almost ready to pass out from the pain, his shoulder popped back into place.

She gently released his arm and laid it down across his stomach. He was breathing hard.

"I'm sorry. I'll get you a few more potions for the pain, see what I can do with your knee and then maybe some rest after a shower will help."

She expected resistance, but he gave none. She moved closer to him and started the task of taking some of his pain away. He watched her, her long wild hair hanging like a curtain covering part of her face. She was breathing through her mouth, her lips parted as she breathed in and released each breath. She looked awful. His time away from the cabin had stressed her and his return made things even worse.

He thought back to what he remembered her saying about this all being her fault.

"I regret that I worried you."

"My own fault.... I'm sorry." She continued to work, hiding her face behind her unruly hair.

"Do not apologize to me."

"But it is my fault. MY fault."

He moved into a sitting position now that the pain was disappearing. It caused her to finally look at him. "Did you order me to go get firewood?"

"No, but maybe I was so annoying you couldn't stand to be around me."

"Did you put the hole in the ground that I fell into?" Silence met his question. "I thought not. Therefore it is not your fault."

"Didn't you hear what I said earlier? You're here because of me. If not for me you would never have gone out to get wood because you would not be HERE."

"Do you think Potter is the only one good at manipulating? Why do you think I am here?"

She brushed some of her hair behind her ear and shrugged. "I don't know. We never discussed it. I thought maybe Harry tricked you into coming here."

"Minerva McGonagall learned a thing or two from Albus Dumbledore about manipulation. You are not the only one who admitted liking the idea of spending time with...someone equally minded."

She blinked. "I don't understand."

"Think, Granger. Why do you think we have a wall here full of books? A cabin in the middle of nowhere with a violent storm that kept us from returning home? We both asked for similar things. I bet that Minerva and Potter planned this in advance." He looked over to the other side of the room. "The single bed I believe is a hopeful suggestion on their part."

She blushed bright red as her eyes fell on the bed and realized what suggestion he meant.

"That is out of the question..."She started, eyes still on the bed, nose wrinkled in disgust.

Snape felt a strange feeling in his chest. He hurt, but this was a feeling much different than physical pain. Was he that unlikable?

"You're hurt...we couldn't..."

His eyes widened.

"Besides I don't...I don't do...I don't do flings."

She flushed again, this time looking down at the floor and fiddling with her own fingers.

"You do not strike me as the type."

She looked at him now, thinking she noticed something in his voice. "I don't mean because it's you. Or rather...that I would be disgusted because it's you." She bit her lip and looked away, clearly flustered.

"That was not my suggestion, though the compliment warms my cold heart," he said sarcastically. Internally that heart was beating rapidly. The idea that he did not disgust this lovely young woman not only gave him hope, but it scared him greatly. He knew nothing of relationships other than hurting others.

He knew she had been hurt when she and Ronald Weasley split. While it had been a mutual decision, it still affected her and their relationship became strained. Especially when Weasley moved on quickly and she did not. When she did move on, the idiot had hurt her badly. With how often she apologized to him and others, she seemed nearly as scarred as him.

"I will go take a hot shower and change."

"I'll make some soup.

He nodded and she moved away, giving him space and away he went as gracefully as he could to the small bathroom. He closed the door and leaned against it for a few moments, to settle his breathing and tell himself not to hope too much. Hope could crush you, as he knew all too well.

He pulled off his shirt as carefully as he could. His shoulder felt much better since it was back in place and he had taken some pain potions. Hermione had repaired the muscle damage as best as she could. He would live.

She had looked lovely, blushing as she had. Had she thought about what it would feel like to be beneath his body or above it?

"You are delusional, old man." He chided himself. Though he had momentarily convinced his heart and mind she would never think about such things, his body was not so convinced. Lowering his pants he discovered his underwear was tented and upon lowering them he sported a full erection.

"You are even more delusional." He told his bobbing erection and instead of a hot shower he put the water on cold, removed the rest of his clothes and stepped in.

As Hermione opened a can that read "Cambell's Chicken Soup" she found herself glancing at the single bed across the room.

"God, blushing like a little school girl. You would turn him off anyway. No breasts, barely any meat on your bones."

She heard the shower running and wondered what he might look like beneath those concealing clothes of his. Even though he no longer taught, he still wore black tunics and black trousers. He was only 49, not very old for a wizard. As the thought of the size of his personal wand entered her mind she flushed even brighter and tossed the spoon she was using to stir the soup down on the counter.

"Wrong thoughts for so many reasons. I'm too young and he doesn't like me. I don't think he even likes other women. He's probably still in love with Harry's mom."

At that thought she felt sad. For him to have loved Lily Evans so fully and to have ruined his own chance with her. Did he still carry the torch for her? Is that why she never saw him with a woman?

She heard the bathroom door open and wondered how long she had been lost in thought. She quickly shut the gas stove off and moved the now boiling pan of soup to a back burner.

Snape looked better now that he had showered and changed. More black clothing, she noticed and he looked quite different with his hair wet.

He gave her a slight smile and she found herself returning it.

"Feeling better?"

"Yes. Do you need help with dinner?"

"Just canned soup. I think there is some bread in the pantry. Would you like tea or coffee for dinner?"

He gave no verbal answer and began to open cabinet doors with his uninjured arm. "I will make the tea."

They worked side by side, though there really wasn't much to be done. She continued to stir the soup around on the back burner and he fiddled with the tea bags and items in the cabinets.

Dinner was quiet and very awkward. After cleaning the dishes they sat on the couch, flipping through books.

Snape could take the silence no longer. They had both been reading the same pages for what felt like hours.

"I will sleep on the couch tonight so that you may have the bed."

She closed her book loudly. "No. You need the bed. It will be better for your shoulder."

"I don't sleep well to begin with, Hermione. The couch will be fine."

She nodded, a ridiculous amount of hope pooling within her. He had said her first name.

Snape realized he had said it, but when nothing was mentioned about it, he brought no attention to it.

Another few hours passed. Hermione had gotten up once to see the snow was still coming down. They could hear the wind howling outside. With no extra firewood, Hermione had transfigured things into wood and put them in the fireplace.

As the hour grew late and they sat side by side, reading in front of the fire, they each realized this was relaxing and quite a nice way to spend the evening. Hermione began to dose off and Severus used her wand left on the table to lighten her weight and make it easier to carry her to the bed.

As he lowered her to the bed and started to move away, she latched onto him. "Don't go..."

"Go back to sleep. You are exhausted. Healing old wizards takes alot out of you."

She did not relinquish her hold. "Couch is hard...plenty of room here 'sides, you are not old."

"That's not wise, Hermione." He could feel the blood already pooling in his groin at the idea of laying with her. Damn traitorous organ...Women did not invite him to their bed. If they did they were crazy witches who believed he was a war hero and that sex and babies with him was what they truly wanted. They were not attractive, young, intelligent or mature. She was only concerned with his injury anyway.

"Neither is sleeping on the couch. Please, Severus." She patted the bed and Severus swallowed hard.

"Be very careful what you ask for," swallowing hard his traitorous mouth let the words fall forth. "I might not be satisfied with resting."

She sat up, her eyes catching sight of the bulge growing in his pants. Her eyes traveled up his body, her heart pounding with the amount of tension in the air.

"What would you be satisfied with?"

"Things I cannot have." He pulled away and she let him go. He made his way to the window, the heat of his heaving breaths causing fog to form on the windowpanes.

He was so focused on trying to slow his heart and breath that he had not heard her come up behind him.

"What if we want similar things? It's obvious we are both interested in the same thing."

"Even if that were true.... I'm shit at this... Complete shit." He raked a shaking hand through his hair. "For all the knowledge I possess, I know nothing of this." He gestured to each of them. He watched the falling snow until she took one hand into hers and then the other, pulling him to look at her.

"Do you think I know much more? I've been through two failed relationships, one that caused me to lose one of my best friends, another that shattered my self esteem and made me feel worthless."

"You are not worthless, Hermione...far from it."

It was her turn to look away. She turned her entire body from him, crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her hands up and down her upper arms as if she were cold. " Don't you think that the idea that I'm attracted to you scares me to death? That the knowledge that you will never return anything I might feel..."

His reply was to reach for her and cover her mouth hungrily with his. He was rough and clumsy, the evidence of his passion for her was plain as day against her lower body, his inexperience just as noticeable. She clung to him; one hand in his hair while the other rested on his side, to keep from touching his healing shoulder.

She returned his kisses, their mouths opening to each other for exploration. Momentarily forgetting his injury she pushed herself against him, causing his arm to move and he groaned in pain and not pleasure.

She pulled back as if burned. "I'm so sorry."

The pain faded quickly, but the sight of her breathing heavily, her lips swollen with his kisses was something Severus Snape would never allow to fade from his memory.

"Maybe it is better this way, Hermione." He kissed her lips chastely. " It is obvious we are both passionate people...you may need time to think..."

"If you weren't hurt I'd be tearing your clothes off, Severus."

He shivered, but not from the temperature. "You honestly desire me?"

"I don't offer myself to just anyone and I have the feeling you are the same way."

"I've never offered myself to anyone." He cleared his throat and spoke again, "I would like to stay here for a few days and get to know you better. Until, the Potter's family Christmas party. I think we should attend, but not let anyone know we got along here. Best to let Minerva and Potter think they failed. If after the party, you still...feel the way you do, I propose we return and finish what we have started."

She grinned shyly, blushing fiercely. "I would very much like that."

He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips gently kissing the soft skin of her hand. "As would I."

To be continued


End file.
